Building a website in 24 hours - How IBM designed a platform to help 'teens fall back in love with Stem' on Do it Day
IBM spent Do it Day launching a platform to help bring young people's tech inventions to life
Would you buy a bomber jacket that vibrated in time to your iTunes playlist, or pair of gloves with an in-built game controller? You might soon be able to if IBM have anything to do with it.
As well as hosting The Drum's Do it Day event (which brought together marketers and brands with the aim of solving the world's most challenging problems in 24 hours) at its Southbank headquaters, the tech giant undertook an ambitious brief to raise the profile of science, technology, engineering and maths (Stem) subjects amongst teens.
On the day, the brand was joined by some of ad land's brightest - including marketers and creatives from Crowdfunder, 360i and Telegraph Hill - to build and market a website that would allow young people to turn their wearable tech ideas into a reality.
The result? Stitchd - a platform designed to showcase the "really cool possibilities" of getting involved in Stem projects.
Tapping into the existing passions of millennials such as music, fashion, gaming and sports, Stictchd will allow teens to design a prototype of a wearable tech invention and give the best creators the opportunity to develop the product with help from IBM and Crowdfunder.
On Do it Day the team launched a demo edition of the website which invited users to register their interest in the initiative and began to plan and execute a creative strategy to raise awareness of the scheme.
To tackle the challenge, the collaborators split into two groups - one dedicated to creative and the other to tech.
On the tech side, designers, developers and branding specialists worked together to fashion the platform in the allocated timeframe.
A three stage project, the Stitchd initiative will aim to convince young people that the theoretical learnings they're taught in the classroom are light years away from the applications Steam professionals work on in the industry.
Following an initial call for entries, young designers will be put through a Crowdfunder round to identify the best ideas. A live event will see a panel of judges decide the overall winner, who will receive guidance and help from IBM to develop the product.
The other half of the room built a strategy around the three stages in just a day. Putting the spotlight on social, the team created Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts for the newly-constructed website and developed posters for an OOH campaign devised to raise awareness of the launch.
Commenting on the project, Bill Sullivan IBM’s Interactive Experience European marketing lead said:
“IBM are particularly aware of the shortage of graduates in this area,” said Bill Sullivan IBM’s Interactive Experience European marketing lead.
“We wanted to spend the day creating a buzz about the excitement that can come from great ideas in this space,” he added.
To get involved in Stichd you can register on the website. To find out more about the world-changing solutions implemented by Dennis Publishing, Visa, the UN and more on Do it Day click here.